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Old 03-30-2008, 04:21 PM
 
10 posts, read 28,781 times
Reputation: 11

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Hi,

We are considering Del Norte or Humboldt Counties as a place to live; we're in the SF Bay Area and are hoping that prices for a few acres are less in these areas than our area. We're looking for rural, less foggy areas. From what I've read on this forum, that would be Blue Lake or Fieldbrook in Humboldt County and Gasquet or Hiouchi in Del Norte. I guess Brookings, OR could be considered, too, but it seems like a retirement community which isn't a bad thing, but I wonder about schools in a retirement area.

Work is in Crescent City, but again, from what I read, CC area sounds a bit more backwoods than Arcata area. Could the commute to Crescent City be do-able if living N. of Arcata? Could someone tell me where to download a detailed map of these areas?

We have 3 sons and are looking for a low-key area to raise our family. We want chickens and a garden and space from neighbors.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated; we are heading up for a visit tomorrow. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've only got time today to do research.

Thanks,
Ruby
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Old 03-30-2008, 06:28 PM
 
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,298 posts, read 14,102,640 times
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Crescent City gets vastly more rain than Humboldt, and there's less to do. It would be quite a commute though to get to CC.

Google maps is your friend.
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Old 03-30-2008, 08:27 PM
 
10 posts, read 28,781 times
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Google Maps, got it. Would you be able to say how far, in minutes, it is from Arcata or McKinleyville?

Thanks!
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Old 03-30-2008, 10:55 PM
 
Location: McKinleyville, California
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Crescent City is 69 miles north of McKinleyville and Arcata and it takes a little more than an hour in good weather to get there if you are staying at the speed limit. Besides Fieldbrook and Blue Lake there are also Hydesville, Fortuna, Glendale, Korbel and Rio Dell here that are much warmer than the coast and there are sections of Arcata that are out of the fog and rural. Much of Humboldt county is rural, maybe 85% or more. Farming is very much a way of life here. A friend of mine owns a ranch with here husband and they drive the 50 miles inland every weekend, it takes less than an hour to get to their ranch and they are about 20 miles from the nearest town of size. The schools here in McK and Arcata are very good. There is also plenty of rural acreage here in McK and Arcata, not all parts of these towns are fogged in in the summer. I can be working here in McK about 2 miles in from the coast and it could be 80 degrees and I go home and the sun never came out and it is still in the mid 60's. I agree that Google Earth is a great way to explore new territories.
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Old 03-30-2008, 11:16 PM
 
Location: McKinleyville, California
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Brookings is a little more than 20 miles from Crescent City and just over the Oregon border. The price of gas there can be as much as 40 cents cheaper and they pump the gas for you, there is no elf serve. So the drive from Arcata to Brookings is about an hour and a half. Google Trinity county too, like Burnt Ranch, Hawkins Bar, Salyer, Del Loma, Helena, Junction City, Weaverville which is the county seat at about 4000 people and other small towns that are not along highway 299 between Humboldt bay and Redding. Also in Humboldt county and along 299 is Willow Creek. All of these town are mountain towns that get snow in the winter and hot in the summer.
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Old 03-30-2008, 11:25 PM
 
10 posts, read 28,781 times
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Thanks so much for the info, Dragonslayer. I'm going to download Google Earth.

I've got to keep the commute to no more than 1 hour (job is in Crescent City) and I think 45 minutes just may be tops. I like the idea of the Arcata area for cultural reasons and the schools, too.

Brookings seemed like a nice area when we drove through about 5 years ago, but I do feel that things could be lopsided if it's mostly retirees. I'm not against retirees, but I do tend to lean toward kid-oriented things and Arcata seems to have more options.
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Old 03-31-2008, 12:50 PM
 
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,298 posts, read 14,102,640 times
Reputation: 8104
Quote:
Originally Posted by RubyPup View Post
Google Maps, got it. Would you be able to say how far, in minutes, it is from Arcata or McKinleyville?

Thanks!
Just for future reference, if you get into plain ol' Google Maps you could type in " Arcata, CA to Crescent City, Ca " and it will show you the number of miles and the estimated time it will take, along with the route.

You can also find businesses or stores by typing in " Walmart near Crescent City " for an example, or " restaurants near Crescent City " for another.

I find the Google Toolbar to be a very useful thing to download, lots of features I use daily.
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Old 04-15-2008, 06:55 PM
 
10 posts, read 28,781 times
Reputation: 11
We made our visit to Humboldt, Del Norte & Curry (Brookings) Counties.

The drive from McKinleyville to Crescent City is about one hour fifteen minutes and would be too far to drive on a daily basis. So we will strike Humboldt County from our list.

We were very lucky to have weather in the 70s! Bright, sunshiney days with clear, non-smoggy blue skies; we couldn't have asked for nicer weather. The Smith River was an indescribable, lovely blue/green color.

I really did not care for the look of Crescent City. We stayed there one night and spent the other in Brookings. It's just not a pretty city, many of the buildings are shabby and the effect for me was that it was not a city I'd be proud of to call home. I mean no disrespect to others who may read this and live there, had lived there or have loved ones who live there. This is my opinion, only and we all know what "they" say about opinions.

We saw some lovely houses in the outskirts of Crescent City, but the thought of having to face the city to go shopping left me not wanting to see more.

We looked at homes in Hiouchi and Gasquet, too. We loved those two areas and found the Smith River to be absolutely gorgeous. Everything about the area was gorgeous except what I mentioned above.

Next, we visited Brookings. It's a tidy and well-kept town. It's obvious that attention has been given to the lay-out and up-keep of Brookings. I felt much more comfortable there.

Next, I would be curious about finding out more about the schools in Brookings. I was told that Brookings is about 60% retirees. I also would like to find out what the political "bent" is of it.

Would anyone have advice on how to do in-depth research about these things?
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Old 04-15-2008, 09:37 PM
 
Location: Eureka CA
9,519 posts, read 14,645,110 times
Reputation: 15067
You can read their daily paper online, that would be my best advice. It's called the Curry County Pilot. I like Brookings, too, but have never lived there. Good luck!
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